I watched this movie last night and was fascinated, attracted, and repelled by it all at the same time. It is a big budget, well-written, and lavishly shot film about a young Frenchman in the 1700's with the most acutely developed sense of smell in history. He experiences the world with his nose and becomes obsessed with the intoxicating aroma of a young woman . . . but then he accidentally kills her and discovers that the scent fades almost immediately after death! He apprentices himself to a master perfumer to better learn how to preserve and create scents so he can preserve the aroma of women forever. Once he learns how to do this he goes about his work with a vengeance, killing 12 young ladies so he can combine their scent to create the most perfect perfume in the history of the world.

This is a bizarre film, and I was somewhat surprised since it is distributed by Dreamworks, a label that normally does pretty wholesome stuff, to find that it is a very dark movie, with a totally amoral main character, strong violence, and lots of nudity (including one sequence at the end that was totally over-the-top in that department). Yet despite all that, it remained watchable throughout and downright fascinating. Dustin Hoffman was in it, and so was the actor who plays one of the instructors (Snapes I think) in the Harry Potter films. In short, this movie was a well-done, surrealistic thriller with some very negative elements that still combined for a strong and watchable story.

I quite enjoyed it, but that may have been the fact that I was on a weekend away and relaxing. Nudity and violence also helped it greatly, though if you're just watching for that you'll be lost for most of the film plot-wise.

In fact, it was very intriguing all the way through: well shot, reasonably acted and had an interesting premise and good cast [DUSTIN!!!]

But what do you think about the ending? I'm in two minds about it really.

Without giving too much away, I'm not entirely satisfied with how it is resolved, but at the same time I am. I think it needs another viewing since much wine was consumed the first time, but at the moment I'm swinging towards "I liked the ending" though I remember initially feeling a bit off about it.

I know what you mean. On the one hand, he was such a merciless amoral character you didn't want him to "get away with it", but on the other hand you felt a strange sympathy for him to be so lonely and emotionless. So in a way, what happened to him kind of fit in with his strange life.

I went to see it the night it opened. It was partially shot in my country, and some of the scenarios sound familiar, specially the plaza at the execution scene. Also, a friend of mine is one of the 800+ people who appear in that scene, although I've never been able to locate her.

My friends, who are enthusiasts of the novel, didn't like it much, but I think it was the best possible adaptation, the source material is very, very wild. The filmmakers deserve kudos if only for the top-notch cast and the risks they took.

Logged

Due to the horrifying nature of this film, no one will be admitted to the theatre.